Fairgrounds Cemetery

• List updated February 9, 2006
• Legal description:  SE, NW, SW, Sect. 1, T7N, R7W  
• Earliest listed grave:  1914
• Last listed grave:  1942
• Arkansas Archeological Survey site #3WH0615

Gerald Torrence of the White County Historical Society first recorded this cemetery on July 27, 2001.   He had heard stories from White County employees about the “poor house cemetery” located at the White County Fairgrounds and how the graves had been disappeared over the years.   Only two tombstones remain. 

(D50)

In an article in the Searcy Sun February 9, 2006, Leroy Blair of the White County Historical Society wrote, “Where the White County Fairground is presently located, there was a place called the Poor Folks Home.  I have traced its operation from 1859 to 1972.  People who were poor or handicapped lived there.  The people who died at the home and others were buried in a cemetery that was located about where the livestock display building is now located at the fairgrounds.  The cemetery was called the County Farm Cemetery.  I have been told that there may have been more than a hundred graves in the cemetery.  Most were not marked.  According to fair personnel there were two graves with tombstones – Charles Wilson and C.R. Wright.  The two tombstones were moved up the hill near to the country garage.  In going over death records in the county I have been able to find the names of four more people who were buried in the County Farm Cemetery.  I was told that at least one grave was moved to Oak Grove Cemetery on Moore Street in Searcy.  What became of the other hundred or so graves – were they moved to other cemeteries or are they still at the fairgrounds unmarked?”

(D50)

If you have additional information on this cemetery or those buried here, contact the White County Historical Society, P.O. Box 537, Searcy, AR 72145.

 

Beasley, Joe – died August 18, 1924 – only date – unmarked grave – from death record at Olmstead Funeral Home
Bell, Sarah – died July 12, 1929 – only date – unmarked grave – from death record at Olmstead Funeral Home
Benifield, Matt – died September 27, 1938 – age about 35 – unmarked grave – from death record at Olmstead Funeral Home
Henderson, Trustin Oscar – June 4, 1857 – September 13, 1915 – unmarked grave per descendent Martha Poplin
Johnson, Andrew M. – died March 9, 1942 – age 71 years – unmarked grave – from death record at Powell Funeral Home
Kilring, Willett – died May 10, 1939 –age about 60 years – unmarked grave – from death record at Powell Funeral Home
Unidentified youth – killed by car at Bald Knob July 14, 1936 – age unknown – unmarked grave – from death record at Powell Funeral HOme
Unidentified man – killed by a train at Bald Knob May 13, 1930 – Wilson, Charles – July 11, 1909 – May 7, 1941
Wright, C.R. – August 15, 1849 – December 23, 1914